The second leg of last season's College Football Playoff championship game highlights the Big Ten slate

Here's what to watch in the Big Ten Conference this week:

Game of the week

No. 10 Michigan (4-1, 2-0) at Washington (3-2, 1-1), Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET (NBC)

It's a rematch of last year's national championship game, which Michigan won 34-13, but a lot has changed in the nine months since.

Both head coaches are gone, as Jim Harbaugh left Michigan for the NFL's Los Angeles Chargers, while Alabama picked up Kalen DeBoer from Washington. The quarterbacks from that game are also out after Washington's Michael Penix Jr. was taken eighth in this year's NFL draft and Michigan's JJ McCarthy was taken 10th.

By the end of September, the teams suffered a combined three defeats. Last year, both carried undefeated records into the championship game.

Michigan lost 31-12 at home to No. 2 Texas but has won three straight since. Sherrone Moore's Wolverines rely on a rushing attack led by Kalel Mullings as they have rushed for just 118 total yards in wins over Southern California and Minnesota over the past two weeks.

Washington has lost two of its last three games, including a 21-18 setback at Rutgers last week, as the Huskies suffer growing pains under new coach Jedd Fisch. BetMGM Sportsbook still has the Huskies as 2 1/2-point favorites.

The undercard

Iowa (3-1, 1-0) vs. No. 3 Ohio State (4-0, 1-0).

The Hawkeyes have scored at least 31 points in three of their first four games under new coordinator Tim Lester, a big step forward for a team that topped the 26-point mark just once last season and was shut out in its last two games. Ohio State allows the fewest points per game (6.8) of any Bowl Subdivision team. Iowa is a 19 1/2-point underdog, according to BetMGM, and will need another strong performance from Kaleb Johnson, who ranks second nationally in yards rushing (685) and has a 206-yard performance against Minnesota.

Impact player

Penn State DE Abdul Carter had four tackles for a loss, two sacks and a forced fumble in No. 7 Penn State's 21-7 win over No. 24 Illinois. He became the first Penn State player since 2018 to record four tackles for a loss in a game.

Indiana LB Aiden Fisher had 12 tackles in a 42-28 win over Maryland. He has collected at least eight tackles in each of No. 23 Indiana's first five games and has a top-50 Big Ten lead this season.

Oregon WR Tez Johnson caught 11 passes for 121 yards and two touchdowns in the sixth-ranked Ducks' 34-13 win at UCLA. After setting a school season record with 86 catches last year, Johnson has already recorded 33 catches in four games.

Within the numbers

Wisconsin will try to beat Purdue for the 18th straight time on Saturday. Purdue's last win over Wisconsin came in 2003. … Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith is familiar with Oregon – the Spartans' opponent on Friday – as a former Oregon State quarterback and coach. Smith went 2-4 against Oregon as head coach at Oregon State and was 2-2 in his years as Oregon State's quarterback. … Purdue QB Hudson Card has thrown as many touchdown passes to the opposing team (3) as to his own in the last three weeks. He has thrown a pick-6 in each of Purdue's last three games. … Minnesota is allowing just 96.8 yards passing per game, the fewest of any FBS team.

Now don't get upset

Indiana is 5-0 for just the third time in program history and the first time since 1967. According to BetMGM, the Hoosiers enter Saturday's game at Northwestern as 13 1/2-point favorites. This number seems a bit high considering the history of this series. Indiana has lost each of its last eight visits to Evanston and hasn't won at Northwestern since 1993.

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Steve Megargee, The Associated Press